Literacy courses start at Moroccan mosques

Last month, Morocco's King Mohammed VI had given instruction to open mosques for literacy courses and for dispensing religious, civic and health courses. He had also stressed the importance of education and training in overall development and social progress, deploring the high rates of illiteracy in urban and rural areas.

Sources at the ministry of Habous (Islamic endowments) and religious affairs, which is supervising the operation, said attendance exceeded expectations and the number of women was by far larger than that of men.

One hundred mosques nationwide were selected to host the courses, with each one accommodating 100 people (50 women and 50 men) supervised by 200 teachers.

With an illiteracy rate standing at 48%, it is almost impossible for Morocco to achieve the development it is longing to unless efforts and potentials are mobilized to fight the crippling phenomenon.

Participants in the courses highlighted the judicious choice of mosques for this kind of activities. For Amina, a 46-year old housewife, in addition to learning reading and writing, the mosque is an appropriate space to better understand religious teachings. Abderrazak, a peddler, see in the literacy courses a good opportunity to improve his situation while Hassan, a shopkeeper who used to rely on others to manage his accountancy and to read and write his letters, hopes he would become independent.